NEW CRYSTAL HUNTERS' POCKET
SMOKY HAWK MINE 2009
NOTE: Only a few photos are included in these pages. Go to Photo Page 1 and Photo Page 2 for additional photos.
Summer of 2009 presented a unique opportunity of hosting the New Crystal Hunters. Bryan and Mae Lynne Swoboda of Blue Cap Productions have a program for producing high quality DVDs of important mineral collecting localities and showing mining and collecting at those sites through the eyes of youngsters. (You may be interested in their first production,The New Crystal Hunters: Pala at http://www.newcrystalhunters.com.) Bryan brings together several kids from around the country for each production so the presentation is given through their eyes. As he hopes, this is the next generation of mineral collectors.
Pinnacle 5 Minerals LLC and Collectors Edge Minerals Inc. (Bryan Lees) sponsored this production on Colorado amazonite. Although I had intended to shut down mining by the 18th of July, when this opportunity presented, Bryan and I rescheduled the mining sequence to be able to host the kids. As it turned out, we had encountered an exciting huge feeder pegmatite dipping from the north end (see the Buckner pegmatite) of the excavation on the Smoky Hawk toward the vicinity of the Smithsonian Pocket. We had already determined numerous small pegmatites branched off this main pegmatite and some contained incredible pockets. As it turned out, during the New Crystal Hunters' visit, we uncovered additional pegmatites and elected to continue the mining season for another week, our longest season to date.
On Wednesday, 22 July, I met our prospective crystal hunters at their motel--typical teenage girls, sleepy and still worried about their hair and clothes while everyone chowed down on the last of the Cheerios, waiting for them. Only, I was to learn these kids had a terrific interest in hunting crystals. Lauren was no stranger to crystal collecting, having actively collected since very young, she already knew about Colorado amazonites and was ready to go. Nora, Lauren's good friend, was prepared to outdo anyone in collecting. And, Lo, the youngest member of the group, showed a keen, developing interest in crystals and crystal hunting.
We didn't waste any more time in getting on the road and heading up Ute Pass toward Lake George and Crystal Peak. The sun shone brightly on the peak, the weather was beautiful, the July sky, a bright blue, now nicely warming. One of the parents commented, "How can you stand this commute every day, Joe?" Indeed, it is 45 miles of beautiful high country.
After shuttling the cars to get everyone up the 4WD trail to the mining site, we spent some of the morning talking about pegmatites and crystal formation in pockets. I showed samples of the pegmatites and the field signs to look for. The kids got a sampling of what it was to build silicon-oxygen tetrahedrons and envision how they build up into crystals. I showed typical minerals they might find, then, Chuck Borland, my friend from Bozeman, Montana, took the kids (and Baxter who thought he finally had someone to play with) on a trip looking for "wild" amazonites. Just like a field collector would search for surface sign that hopefully leads to a pocket, the kids spent about an hour looking for pegmatite pieces and hunting float, following it uphill. The New Crystal Hunters didn't find a great pocket, but they quickly mastered the idea of hunting float. They did find some bits of blue amazonite, some microcline with crystal faces, and a few smoky crystals. Lo found a beautiful single smoky.
The site they searched is below Old Man Rock at about 8,900 feet elevation. The area was heavily burned in 2002 and some of the ground cover has not grown back, still affording a nice view of eroded material. The kids did turn up a couple new fawns and lots of raspberries. Since raspberries are one of the first plants to come back into a burn, they were particularly plentiful . . . and tasty. Nope; the kids spent most of their time chasing float; the parents were busy gathering the raspberries.
After a great lunch back at the campsite, which Mae Lynne and some of the parents fixed, we took the New Crystal Hunters to investigate a pegmatite we had exposed just below camp. My son Tim had spent a couple days with the 690 excavator exploring about 100 feet of pegmatite where it breached the surface. Other field collectors had collected along this pegmatite for numerous years, but by using the excavator, Tim was able to expose fresh pegmatite deeper in the hillside. The pegmatite turned out to be a typical, linear pegmatite with no, or marginal at best, openings along its length. The kids quickly figured out where the small openings were by chasing down the red oxides, and each found several nice euhedral amazonites of superb color. Lauren found the largest ones, some of which I know will rival the best singles from the Smoky Hawk.
Since the daylight was now long, we decided it was time to investigate the main excavation. I was surprised to find Tim and George Quist (our main equipment operator), who had been mining while we were digging elsewhere, busy digging out a pocket. They had discovered a good quality combination pocket and were now busy with the pneumatic chipping hammer, removing the surrounding matrix from the cavity. Eventually, they pulled out two excellent groups.
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| A specimen from the first pocket. | Discovered while the kids were hunting for float. | Tim handing a piece from the pocket to be wrapped. |
The south end of the pit, which now averages 30 feet deep and 100 feet across, consists of a large, unaltered granite knob. We have been drilling and shooting a portion of this knob for the past couple seasons, pushing the face back and going deeper. By pulling this granite out, we have found a few pockets in the decomposed granite behind or alongside it. The Smithsonian was one such pocket. So far, this season, we had only found a thin pegmatite running through this granite, but it held amazonite of incredible color. We had prepared to shoot another section when the New Crystal Hunters were scheduled to visit, so I left one hole undrilled so they could see this part of the operation.
George and Tim promptly began drilling. Ears plugged, dust flying, the kids cautiously backed away while they worked. They peeked to see how the dynamite and ANFO were loaded then retreated to the safety of the campsite while George lit the fuse. "Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!" Putting Baxter safely in the car, covering their ears, they nervously watched as the clock ticked down, not knowing what exactly to expect. They seemed relieved when the muffled pop of the eight rounds only produced a white puff of smoke and the faint ringing down of rock pebbles.
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| Drilling the last hole. | After the blast. | Mucking the easy way. |
"That was real mining," I explained. "Now, we'll bring the excavator back in and muck out all the broken rock. Hopefully, we'll see an exposed pegmatite." I explained they could examine the hole in the morning and see how effective (or not) the rock softener was.
Thursday morning, 23 July 2009. Another bright day dawns. The New Crystal Hunters visit our lab to view the multiple steps of cleaning and prepping amazonite specimens.
"I can't believe this, and this are the same rock." Nora exclaims as she picks up and compares an uncleaned dirty brown piece to one that is vibrant blue.
Like most people, the kids are surprised at how brown and red the amazonites appear when brought in from the field.
Tim demonstrates some of the tricks for "fit finding," explaining as he does, "Because all pockets are shattered shortly after crystallization, nearly all good specimens have some repairs. Finding the missing crystals and chips helps us restore these pieces to their original beauty."
Tim has proven to be one of the best at finding these missing pieces. Often, he is able to partially memorize the pocket while it is still in place in the field. He knows what the fits look like when he lays it out and is able to successfully find some of the seemingly impossible pieces. He allows Lauren, Nora, and Lo to each try their hand.
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| Wrapped and in from the field. | Pieces waiting to be fitted. | Never-ending washing. |
"And what's that on those smoky quartz crystals?" asks Nora. She points at a large group with smoky quartz crystals, each tipped with blue putty.
"Mineral tack," explains Tim. "Half the time I'm out here in the winter . . . fingers get cold . . . pieces slip. I don't want to accidentally chip a tip which formed a billion years ago."
He picks up a bright blue green amazonite group. "After fitting the specimens," Tim continues, "We take them apart and begin the cleaning steps. The cleaning process draws out the iron staining revealing, hopefully, beautiful blue green colors. Like these amazonites." He hands Lo the group. "We stop the cleaning process on those that don't make the grade--those that are brown or tan colored." He indicats several boxes of tan or white microcline specimens sitting in the corner.
From the lab we visited the show room where I have many of the "family collection" pieces on display. These were collected by my two sons, Scott and Tim, and myself from 1999 through 2005. After we began the joint operation in 2006 with Bryan Lees, we have only added a couple pieces to the collection. The others have been marketed to pay for the mining operation with the continued hope we will find a truly stupendous pocket.
Lauren points to the Christmas pocket piece. "And what's the story behind this one?" I'm thankful for the question. More than any aspects of collecting which I enjoy are the memories each piece brings back. I explain how we found the piece in December of 2000 during Christmas break in the snow. I point out that it displays five species on a single specimen. Piece by piece, I tell the story as the kids point to each of the approximately two dozen pieces.
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| Some of the pieces from our personal collection. |
After a tour of the lab, we head back to the Smoky Hawk and arrive in time for lunch. Everyone is anxious to get back to digging so while I'm doing some preparations, the girls return to the amazonite pegmatite and resume digging. When I return, I find they are finding some pretty good amazonites. It was difficult to convince them they might find something better in the main Smoky Hawk excavation--something about a bird in the hand . . .
At the main excavation, I find George and Chuck working a large pocket on the south end. The color is not as rich as some of the pockets, but so far, they have removed several large plates. I decide we have enough time for the kids to work on this pocket as well as the one we had buried so I gave them the chance to excavate some of the amazonite groups. They find a couple having smoky quartz associations. This pocket ends up being 28" deep by 14" wide by 14" high, a relatively large pocket. They collect over eight flats of amazonite specimens.
The area we are working is phenomenal. I had buried a pocket earlier in the week, saving it to show the kids and to hopefully allow them to recover some good specimens. In removing the dirt to re-expose the pocket, George and Tim unexpectedly hit three small pockets to its left. These were located in small, narrow pegmatites, which came off the larger feeder pegmatite. Several of these small branching pegmatites were beginning to open into small cavities. One area just above where we were now digging held a string of seven pockets all filled with spectacular goethite.
When I finally see the newspapers marking the buried pocket, I'm relieved. Several days earlier I had hit two nice pockets near the floor of the excavation. Not knowing if I'd encounter any more, I set these aside for the kids to help dig. During the night, thieves came in and dug them, stealing everything. To top it off they took my tools and went to my topaz mine and stole topaz from me there as well. I know the pocket they stole was exceptional because I had pulled a couple pieces from them to assess their quality. If they had not been good, I would have continued mining. (It costs a great deal of money to operate heavy equipment and it's not prudent to not be mining.)
The one I discovered later and left for the New Crystal Hunters, I was uncertain of its quality because I didn't remove any pieces except some shards at its mouth. It looked to be heavily covered by oxides and, to be frank, I wasn't thinking it would be any good. However, we hadn't encountered any other pockets since the thieves hit, and I had decided even if this one wasn't good, at least it showed good structure. I was greatly relieved when I pulled the newspapers out of the opening and could still see some crystals inside.
In the meanwhile the parents dug one of the small pockets to the left of this pocket as well as a couple other tiny pockets which opened. One held some nice "onegites" (goethite included quartz) specimens. There were also a few small groups.
When the kids finally got to the New Crystal Hunters' Pocket, I was hoping it would be at least as good as the other pocket they had dug. I didn't want it to be a let down. I could see the edge of an amazonite group, but didn't know if anything would be intact or with combination. Tim worked out the surrounding matrix until the amazonite was loose. Taking turns, he directed the girls to collect the pieces as they became exposed. The first piece was a nice amazonite group. The second piece, which Lo got the chance to pull out, turned out to be an outstanding group. It is a large group of amazonite with several small smokies. After washing it, we discovered several small purple fluorites, a couple which display penetration twining. This appears to be a choice specimen. As we continued to work, a couple more nice groups were recovered, including one about 5" long with both amazonite and smoky quartz crystals.
The pocket wasn't large, just about 18" in depth by 12" wide by about 8" high. It produced four flats of material, including three superb groups. Because this pocket turned out to be one of the best of the season, it was named. The kids agreed it was worty of being called the "New Crystal Hunters'" pocket.
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| The New Crystal Hunters' Pocket in place. | Lo pulls out the first nice combination specimen. | Showing off the great piece. |
By now, the day was long. The kids had spent most of it collecting pockets, including several unplanned pockets found during the day when we uncovered the buried pocket. We had just enough time to wrap the adventure up. Because amazonites aren't cleaned overnight, I gave each of the kids a cleaned specimen while they waited for their new treasures to be cleaned.
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| End of production. Bryan, Lauren, Nora, Joe, and Lo. |
The New Crystal Hunters had seen some of the crystallography of a pegmatite and several representative specimens. They also had an opportunity to view the cleaning and preparation of specimens as well as see some of the finest pieces ever found. Finally, they had an opportunity to look for "wild" pegmatites, dig in a newly exposed pegmatite, and help us in mining several very fine pockets. They had seen material few people ever get the chance to see.
Material from the pockets the New Crystal Hunters collected were cleaned and prepped during fall of 2009 and put on display at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show in February 2010.
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| Pieces from personal collection on display with the New Crystal Hunters' Case. | New Crystal Hunters' Case. | Tucson 2010. |
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